Indoor Geocaching

[+learn2mine]

Is there such a thing as geocaches indoors say in large malls etc. ..?

[+coachstahly]

There used to be one at Navy Pier in Chicago but I believe it's been archived.  I know there are quite a few library caches.  There are a few other caches located inside private businesses (hard to get those published, but it can be done).  I've done quite a few onsite caches that required you to start inside before venturing out to find the final.  They're certainly in the minority though.

[+K13]

I haven't seen a GPS which works indoors - something about the signal strength. I have found Multi-caches and Mystery caches with the final inside, like at a library. In each case, the cache involved a stage that was outdoors which allowed for the required GPS-use component of all geocache placements.

[+Touchstone]

Library caches are the predominant type of  "indoor" locations we have in my area.  I found one in an NPS Visitors Center once.  I've heard of some inside museums and other non profit locations.

 

Lack if GPS usage is how most of these types of ideas get killed before Publication (Commercial location being a close second probably).  A large mall, might be questioned as being on private property (along with the commercial aspects).  Probably best to work it out with your Local Reviewer.

[+kunarion]

33 minutes ago, learn2mine said:

Is there such a thing as geocaches indoors say in large malls etc. ..?

 

There are some.  There was a cache for years inside the glass-topped horticultural center in Callaway Gardens.  I followed my GPS right up to the container.

[+learn2mine]

2 minutes ago, kunarion said:

 

There are some.  There was a cache for years inside the glass-topped horticultural center in Callaway Gardens.  I followed my GPS right up to the container.

Is it still there?

[+kunarion]

28 minutes ago, learn2mine said:

Is it still there?

 

Archived when the place was closed.

 

Callaway Gardens, massively in debt, sold a huge area of the property to the golf course.  Including the horticultural center, with its 2-story glass walled arboretum, which then closed and is now falling into disrepair.  Just wow.

 

 

A view inside the John A. Sibley Horticultural Center at Callaway Gardens.  July 2006.

 

Edited September 10, 2018 by kunarion

[+J Grouchy]

21 minutes ago, kunarion said:

 

There are some.  There was a cache for years inside the glass-topped horticultural center in Callaway Gardens.  I followed my GPS right up to the container.

 

Don't forget one of the oldest multis out there...https://coord.info/GC1875

 

 

[+TeamRabbitRun]

55 minutes ago, coachstahly said:

There used to be one at Navy Pier in Chicago but I believe it's been archived.  I know there are quite a few library caches.  There are a few other caches located inside private businesses (hard to get those published, but it can be done).  I've done quite a few onsite caches that required you to start inside before venturing out to find the final.  They're certainly in the minority though.

 

I GOT that one at Navy Pier back in 2012 - That's a great cache! https://coord.info/GCHG28

 

I just looked at it - re-enabled three weeks ago after construction, with a comment to "try other entrances", then reported inaccessible by two cachers (one with one find), then re-disabled.

 

Hope the CO gets it back up!

[+Chuckle berry]

There used to be a traditional in the Mall of America in Minnesota.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

1 hour ago, Touchstone said:

Library caches are the predominant type of  "indoor" locations we have in my area.  I found one in an NPS Visitors Center once.  I've heard of some inside museums and other non profit locations.

 

Lack if GPS usage is how most of these types of ideas get killed before Publication (Commercial location being a close second probably).  A large mall, might be questioned as being on private property (along with the commercial aspects).  Probably best to work it out with your Local Reviewer.

 

There's one that has been frequently mentioned in the forums that is not only indoors, but is inside an international airport.  

[+niraD]

I've found a few library/museum caches. Generally, there's a stage outside that you use accurate coordinates to locate (thus fulfilling the GPS usage requirement), and that stage gives you clues/instructions for how to find the cache that is located inside the library/museum.

 

I've also found caches that worked the other way around, where the clues were inside, and they lead to an outdoor cache that you used accurate coordinates to locate. One was an art cache, that collected information from various sculptures located in an indoor shopping center.

 

I've also found caches that were located in places where there was no GPS reception. But it was possible to use a GPS device to get accurate coordinates (for the hider) and to use those coordinates to identify ground zero (for the seeker). For some reason, Groundspeak is okay with this approach when the location is in a cave or a hollow redwood tree or someplace like that, but not when it is in a library.

[+MNTA]

This summer went to the Museum of flight just outside of Seattle. They have 5 lab caches there and if you get them all. A clue directs you to a drawer with a physical cache. https://coord.info/GC5GT6J Spaceflight Academy. Lots of fun. 

 

I've also done an intermediate WP for a Multi phone booth cache in a convention center. Find the pay phone to get the number then figure out the final coordinate. Had to take a bearing before entering the building and that got me pretty close.

 

Library caches are great. 

[+Max and 99]

1 hour ago, MNTA said:

This summer went to the Museum of flight just outside of Seattle. They have 5 lab caches there and if you get them all. A clue directs you to a drawer with a physical cache. https://coord.info/GC5GT6J Spaceflight Academy. Lots of fun. 

 

I've also done an intermediate WP for a Multi phone booth cache in a convention center. Find the pay phone to get the number then figure out the final coordinate. Had to take a bearing before entering the building and that got me pretty close.

 

Library caches are great. 

Yes they are!

[+TeamRabbitRun]

2 minutes ago, Max and 99 said:

Yes they are!

 

I agree - I have one!

[BillyGeeee]

Yes, indoor geocaches that require no GPS usage are quite publishable. All you need is an inattentive reviewer.

Here is an example: https://coord.info/GC4D6AQ

1. This "geocache" is in the largest building in the city. You don't need a GPSr to find it. Once you're inside, it doesn't help you to find the specific hall.
2. Even more - there is no geocache at all! Explicitly stated in the description: "In the hall you will not find а box". The museum's guestbook is supposed to be the logbook.

So be creative and try your luck! Then tell us if it worked.

Edited September 11, 2018 by BillyGee

[+Goldenwattle]

I have found a few library caches inside hollow books in libraries. The librarians knew about it. Here is one:GC7EA4A

I got FTF

[+coachstahly]

16 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 

There's one that has been frequently mentioned in the forums that is not only indoors, but is inside an international airport.  

 

I forgot about that one, if it's the one in Germany.  I actually got to do that one two summers ago.  

[+NYPaddleCacher]

1 hour ago, coachstahly said:

 

I forgot about that one, if it's the one in Germany.  I actually got to do that one two summers ago.  

 

I was thinking of the Butterfly Garden cache in Singapore airport.  I knew I'd seen photos of another one inside an airport but couldn't remember where it was.  There's also an earth cache in Denver airport and another earth cache *under* the airport in Dubrovnik, Croatia.   My favorite "indoor" cache is one in a tunnel under a river in Hamburg, Germany.

[+Goldenwattle]

9 minutes ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 

I was thinking of the Butterfly Garden cache in Singapore airport.  I knew I'd seen photos of another one inside an airport but couldn't remember where it was.  There's also an earth cache in Denver airport and another earth cache *under* the airport in Dubrovnik, Croatia.   My favorite "indoor" cache is one in a tunnel under a river in Hamburg, Germany.

I found a cache inside an airport in Copenhagen, although I think that one has now been archived.

[+coachstahly]

Here's the one in the Hannover airport.  It's a traditional cache inside the airport.  I was in the Singapore airport, but long before caching began.  Going across threads a bit, but there's also a new virtual inside the airport in San Jose, CA.

 

https://coord.info/GC2W3FD

Edited September 11, 2018 by coachstahly
addition to post

[+redsox_mark]

Yes I've found quite a few indoor caches which do not require GPS use (or to be more accurate, GPS is not only not required, it doesn't help).   The one in Singapore airport is one.    One in an airport in Germany does give coordinates for the main entrance (and then directions from there).. though you can of course find the main entrance without a GPS.    It will depend on the reviewer how they interpret the guidelines, and what they notice.  

 

Others clearly use GPS.   E.g several caches which had multiple outdoor stages using GPS, leading to a final inside a building (often a library).   

 

If you have outdoor stages needing GPS, and don't clash with the commercial guidelines, you should be OK.   

[+NYPaddleCacher]

1 hour ago, Goldenwattle said:

I found a cache inside an airport in Copenhagen, although I think that one has now been archived.

 

I don't recall seeing one in Copenhagen airport when I went through there in October.  There is a puzzle cache with clues in the airport in Helsinki but I assume the final is outdoors.  I only did the one near the parking garage and a few there were a couple of miles from the airport (close to where I stayed overnight).

[+NYPaddleCacher]

1 hour ago, coachstahly said:

Here's the one in the Hannover airport.  It's a traditional cache inside the airport.  I was in the Singapore airport, but long before caching began.  Going across threads a bit, but there's also a new virtual inside the airport in San Jose, CA.

 

https://coord.info/GC2W3FD

 

I've been to Hannover but arrived by train (from Berlin).  I did the virtual just outside the train station but was only there a few hours for a meeting so didn't get any others.  It seems like a really nice city though and I'd love to go back.  

 

I was reading a book recently that had some scenes in Denver airport.  Apparently there is  some interesting and just plane strange artwork there that would make for a good multi.

[+redsox_mark]

9 minutes ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 

I don't recall seeing one in Copenhagen airport when I went through there in October.  There is a puzzle cache with clues in the airport in Helsinki but I assume the final is outdoors.  I only did the one near the parking garage and a few there were a couple of miles from the airport (close to where I stayed overnight).

 

It was archived in 2015.   https://coord.info/GC13V93

[+NYPaddleCacher]

1 hour ago, redsox_mark said:

 

It was archived in 2015.   https://coord.info/GC13V93

 

So it was there the first time I went through Copenhagen airport but I had a 6 hour layover and decided to take the train into the city rather than find a few caches near the airport.

[+Goldenwattle]

1 hour ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 

I don't recall seeing one in Copenhagen airport when I went through there in October.  There is a puzzle cache with clues in the airport in Helsinki but I assume the final is outdoors.  I only did the one near the parking garage and a few there were a couple of miles from the airport (close to where I stayed overnight).

I went through there about four years ago. It was in a corridor.

[+Goldenwattle]

15 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 

So it was there the first time I went through Copenhagen airport but I had a 6 hour layover and decided to take the train into the city rather than find a few caches near the airport.

I notice that after a number of DNFs people logging finds for admitting to being unable to find it.

 

[+Vooruit!]

There are many library caches in the Netherlands as well. Guess the library staff is just all to happy to accommodate, just to get people near to books. And right they are...

[+irisisleuk]

21 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 

I was thinking of the Butterfly Garden cache in Singapore airport.  I knew I'd seen photos of another one inside an airport but couldn't remember where it was.  There's also an earth cache in Denver airport and another earth cache *under* the airport in Dubrovnik, Croatia.   My favorite "indoor" cache is one in a tunnel under a river in Hamburg, Germany.

The one in Singapore is nice, we found it several years ago. Recently we found one at the airport of Hamburg: GC4EN84, a very nice  one and perfect for trackables.

 

 

[+irisisleuk]

On 10-9-2018 at 8:07 PM, MNTA said:

This summer went to the Museum of flight just outside of Seattle. They have 5 lab caches there and if you get them all. A clue directs you to a drawer with a physical cache. https://coord.info/GC5GT6J Spaceflight Academy. Lots of fun. 

 

I've also done an intermediate WP for a Multi phone booth cache in a convention center. Find the pay phone to get the number then figure out the final coordinate. Had to take a bearing before entering the building and that got me pretty close.

 

Library caches are great. 

Really liked the Spaceflight Academy as well, the museum is really worth a visit!

 

Wondering how many caches are at a museum, since the entrance fee will be an issue to get them online normally, this one is part of a Geocaching adventure, so has different rules.

With the virtual we recently did, World Cache Final: Cambridge Museums, this wasn't an issue, because the two museums we had to visit have no entrance free, just ask for a voluntary donation. A perfect cache for a rainy day, our timing wasn't perfect though because it started to rain when we were finished with our visit to both museums .

 

[+The Jester]

There's also an indoor cache in Seattle - GC Headquarters!

[+GeoElmo6000]

I have a library cache and my reviewer said I had to have an outdoor stage.  The link below contains the rule that I had to follow.  My outdoor stage points to the indoor stage.  The rule also states indoor caches can't be traditional caches.

 

https://www.geocaching.com/help/index.php?pg=kb.printer.friendly&id=19#p781

 

Hope this helps.

[+niraD]

34 minutes ago, GeoElmo6000 said:

The rule also states indoor caches can't be traditional caches.

 

Yeah. I still think that's a silly rule though:

On 9/10/2018 at 10:40 AM, niraD said:

I've also found caches that were located in places where there was no GPS reception. But it was possible to use a GPS device to get accurate coordinates (for the hider) and to use those coordinates to identify ground zero (for the seeker). For some reason, Groundspeak is okay with this approach when the location is in a cave or a hollow redwood tree or someplace like that, but not when it is in a library.

 

[Keystone]

Ordinarily, meaningful GPS usage is required in order to find a particular redwood tree or the entrance to a cave.  To find a library, one can use a paper map or can ask that smart looking person on the street corner, or can look for signs that say "library."

[+niraD]

1 hour ago, Keystone said:

Ordinarily, meaningful GPS usage is required in order to find a particular redwood tree or the entrance to a cave.  To find a library, one can use a paper map or can ask that smart looking person on the street corner, or can look for signs that say "library."

Most of the libraries I've been to have been pretty big places. Finding the library isn't enough, unless you're prepared for a REALLY big needle-in-a-haystack search.

 

Yes, library caches typically specify where in the library to look via verbal instructions (e.g., a particular author in the Fiction section, or a Dewey Decimal number in the Nonfiction section). But GPS coordinates could be used to specify where in the library to look, just as they are used to specify where in a park to look.

 

To me, it seems like a similar issue to the use of GPS coordinates in LBH caches. To find a park, one can use a paper map or can ask that smart looking person on the street corner, or can look for signs that say "park." Therefore, an LBH cache cannot simply start at a park entrance, or at the parking lot. But an LBH cache can start at a specific location within a park, a specific location identified by GPS coordinates.

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

We have a cache in a library (in the map room!) at the university. As we have several libraries on campus (two of them are in adjacent buildings), the coords take you to the main entrance of the correct library. 

 

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC2JQY0_map-it-out

[+NYPaddleCacher]

26 minutes ago, Wet Pancake Touring Club said:

We have a cache in a library (in the map room!) at the university. As we have several libraries on campus (two of them are in adjacent buildings), the coords take you to the main entrance of the correct library. 

 

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC2JQY0_map-it-out

 I'm surprised that was published.   In this case, the coordinates take you to a place other than where the caches is located with a "clue" on how to get to GZ for a traditional (sort of like a Letterbox hybrid, but without the stamp).  I didn't think it was allows to just have the coordinates take you to the entrance of a building, unless there was something there that you had to discover or find.  For example,  count the number of glass panes on the door to determine which aisle to go to in the library, or find a container with a card which has a dewey decimal code. 

[+arisoft]

32 minutes ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

I'm surprised that was published.   In this case, the coordinates take you to a place other than where the caches is located with a "clue" on how to get to GZ for a traditional (sort of like a Letterbox hybrid, but without the stamp).  I didn't think it was allows to just have the coordinates take you to the entrance of a building, unless there was something there that you had to discover or find.

 

Using current guidelines, it is not allowed to use coordinates to entrance only, but eight years ago, coordinates to the entrance was enough, I guess.

[+The A-Team]

On ‎9‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 1:10 AM, BillyGee said:

Yes, indoor geocaches that require no GPS usage are quite publishable. All you need is an inattentive reviewer.

Here is an example: https://coord.info/GC4D6AQ

1. This "geocache" is in the largest building in the city. You don't need a GPSr to find it. Once you're inside, it doesn't help you to find the specific hall.
2. Even more - there is no geocache at all! Explicitly stated in the description: "In the hall you will not find а box". The museum's guestbook is supposed to be the logbook.

So be creative and try your luck! Then tell us if it worked.

I'm surprised this problematic cache hasn't been dealt with by a reviewer or HQ in the 10 days since you brought it to our attention.

[+Touchstone]

1 hour ago, The A-Team said:

I'm surprised this problematic cache hasn't been dealt with by a reviewer or HQ in the 10 days since you brought it to our attention.

Why does everyone run to Mom and Dad to fix things?  Can't the CO take care of it?

[+dprovan]

1 hour ago, The A-Team said:

I'm surprised this problematic cache hasn't been dealt with by a reviewer or HQ in the 10 days since you brought it to our attention.

I guess they don't think it's a problem. I agree with them.

[+MysteryGuy1]

I found a cache in the stairwell of a parking garage while on vacation this past summer.  Given that a GPS won't work inside, plus the fact that the coordinates would be the same on every floor regardless, the hint basically told you which floor it was on and a rough idea of where to look.

 

I also found a cache a few months back that was located in the foyer of an office building.  You could only "find" it during the hours when the office was open, but it required no searching.  It was a huge container in plain sight.

[BillyGeeee]

On 9/22/2018 at 1:26 AM, dprovan said:

I guess they don't think it's a problem. I agree with them.

The cache listing is not a problem. But if you try to publish a similar listing, you will most probably be denied. That is called a double standard. And it is a problem.

[+arisoft]

13 hours ago, MysteryGuy1 said:

I found a cache in the stairwell of a parking garage while on vacation this past summer.  Given that a GPS won't work inside, plus the fact that the coordinates would be the same on every floor regardless, the hint basically told you which floor it was on and a rough idea of where to look.

 

There is no guideline that GPS must work at the cache. There is still plenty of opportunities to use GPS while searching the cache. I have a parking garage cache in the middle of the building and GPS is not working when you are near the cache. But, if you go to the top floor you can get the position at pintpoint accuracy and then you only have to go down in the same position floor by floor until you find the cache.

[+irisisleuk]

A couple of months ago we did a very fun, mostly indoor, multi cache in Germany: Come In And Find Out - CIAFO. The first stage was outside a museum, the next steps were inside. So you needed the gps to find the first waypoint which gave info on how to find the next waypoint inside. The following waypoints were more like a letterbox (since there is no gps-reception), but at one of the stages there were 2 alternatives to find the next stage. Since we couldn't find option one, we had to get our gps from the lockers which we had put away with our bag thinking we wouldn't need it indoors. We needed the gps because the second option was using the chirp. After finding all the waypoints we got the coordinatees for the cache, for which we needed the gps again, since it was outside.  

[+DerDiedler]

On 11.9.2018 at 12:34 PM, coachstahly said:

 

I forgot about that one, if it's the one in Germany.  I actually got to do that one two summers ago.  

GCA33A

[+hzoi]

GC5165 - virtual in Chicago O'Hare Airport (one of many I track on my airport bookmark list)

[+gginnj]

There is this one inside a hotel near Pittsburgh, PA

 

https://coord.info/GC197A4